'Cut it out': Obama recalls warning Putin over US election cyberattacks

The outgoing US
president has vowed
to act against the
Kremlin for meddling
in the presidential
elections.


 The
American intelligence
community has
blamed Moscow for
cyberattacks that
compromised
Democratic Party
servers.
US President Barack Obama
on Friday said he
confronted his Russian
counterpart Vladimir Putin
during a face-to-face
meeting ahead of the US
elections, telling him to "cut
it out" or suffer the
consequences for Russian
cyberattacks.
"In early September when I
was President Putin in
China, I felt that the most
effective way to ensure that
that didn't happen was to
talk to him directly and tell
him to cut it out and there
were going to be serious
consequences if he didn't,"
Obama said during his final
year-end news conference.
"And in fact, we did not see
further tampering of the
election process," he added.
The American intelligence
community, including the
Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) and the Federal
Bureau of Investigation
(FBI), has reported Russian
cyber-meddling in the run-
up to the US presidential
election in a bid to bolster
support for its preferred
candidate, New York real
estate mogul and President-
elect Donald Trump.
Over the summer,
cybercriminals reportedly
based in Russia hacked the
Democratic National
Committee's servers,
gaining access to tens of
thousands of emails.
In October, whistleblowing
organization WikiLeaks
published emails obtained
from the private email
account of John Podesta,
Hillary Clinton's executive
campaign manager and
former chief of staff in
former President Bill
Clinton's cabinet.
Independent cybersecurity
analysts have also accused
Russia of involvement in the
cyberattacks that effectively
undermined Clinton's 2016
White House bid.
'Clear message to
Russia'
The outgoing president
vowed to retaliate against
Moscow for the alleged
cyberattacks targeting the
electoral process.
"Our goal continues to be to
send a clear message to
Russia or others not to do
this to us, because we can
do stuff to you," Obama
noted, placing the blame
directly on Russia's
president.
"Not much happens in
Russia without Vladimir
Putin," he said. "I mean, this
is a pretty hierarchical
operation last I checked,
there's not a lot of debate
and democratic
deliberation, particularly
when it comes to policies
directed at the United
States."
Obama also expressed
bewilderment over a poll
showing one-third of
Republican Party members
approve of Putin. "Ronald
Reagan would roll over in
his grave," he said.
Relations between
Washington and Moscow
have sunk to lows not seen
since the Cold War, most
notably in the wake of
Russia's illegal annexation
of the Crimean Peninsula.